a cambridge christmas

We had a nice Cambridge Christmas this year, but hope it will be our first and last Christmas away from home.

We started out the festivities with a Summa Group Christmas feast and game night. It was a really fun and relaxing evening with friends.

Christmas Eve we went to a candlelight service at church and met our friend Dave's family (who were visiting from New York). They invited us out for dinner and we went along. They were so fun and it was really nice to spend time with a family, Christmas really isn't the same without it! We went back for a midnight mass after dinner and drinks. At about 2:45 am we skyped with my family because that was the only time we could see them all together.

Christmas Day we skyped with Brandon's dad and family and got to watch them open presents for a while which was really nice. Afterwards we went over to the home of a woman named Joy, who has grown up in England and lived here her whole life. She takes in international students and shows them a traditional English Christmas. The food was very similar to ours but included things like bread sauce, parsnips, and lots of desserts containing fruit soaked in brandy and covered in brandy creme sauce. The English have about 4 desserts made from this - christmas pudding (which can either be a cake or just the fruit in a bowl), christmas cake (baked several different ways), and mince pies to name a few. After a big Christmas lunch the tradition is to watch the Queen who gives a yearly Christmas address on the tele. After a few hours of relaxing and watching movies we had a cold supper with salmon sent from Scotland. We didn't get home until about 9:30 at night so it was a really long but enjoyable day. When we got home we skyped with Brandon's mom and family.

We found that family Christmas isn't quite the same when attended via satellite, but we were thankful to be able to see everyone and for the friends and families we were able to spend our English holiday with.